Snow Science | Nick Bliss | E32
Recorded just as the biggest snowstorm of the winter wallops Lake Tahoe with up to 10 feet of snow, the boys chat with Nick Bliss of Bliss Wilderness and avalanche forecaster at the Bridgeport Avalanche Center. They discuss snow safety, snowpack and avalanches to the dangers of following social media to find big ski lines, the responsibility professional winter sports athletes have when posting their adventures, apps like OnX Backcountry, Cody Townsend’s The Fifty episode about Split Couloir, KT-22 at Palisades Tahoe, the dangerous early season snowpack and what this big incoming storm will do to that snowpack. We talk about Nick’s escape from Tahoe to Sonora Junction and off-grid living.
Felonies, Fake News and the Return of JaPowBot | E31
After a three week adventure overseas, JaPowBot makes his return from Japan just as winter turns back on in Lake Tahoe. The boys discuss Tom’s trip as well as a potpourri of shenanigans that happened in Tahoe while he was gone, including shootings at Palisades Tahoe and Homewood, grant theft and assault at Boreal and a woman getting stranded overnight in the Heavenly gondola. Trail Whisperer rants about UnofficialNetworks and their false AI generated news headlines, PowBot calls out Palisades Tahoe for complaining about work on their blog, presidential candidates make campaign promises for the votes of Tahoe core lords, Snoop Pow Dogg gives his Snowsizzle My Dizzle Powderiffic Snow Report and Arapahoe Basin loses its identity and goes corporate after being bought out by Alterra/IKON Pass.
Avalanches and the Frog Lake Huts | E30
Fresh off a return from a two-night ski adventure at the Frog Lake Huts, right before PowBot’s departure for Japan, the boys do a catch up, recapping the of the most dangerous periods of avalanche conditions ever in the Sierra Nevada. The boys discuss the unfortunate inbounds fatality on KT-22 opening day at Palisades Tahoe and PowBot recounts the only time he’s ever been fully buried in an avalanche – inbounds at Sugar Bowl – and a second recovery he was involved in immediately after being unburied by a partner. The boys also chat about the inherent dangers of skiing inbounds on a storm day, terrain management, proper recovery gear, the dangers of group think and the expert halo, the risks of traveling in the backcountry and methods employed to stay safe even on considerable and high avalanche danger days, and why PowBot thinks avalanche education and safety is better in Canada and Europe than the U.S. The last third of the show recaps the boys’ trip to the Frog Lake Huts (where Mind the Track was born a year ago) and successfully negotiating avalanche terrain in dangerous conditions en route. They also discuss why there are so many no-shows at Frog Lake despite sold-out reservation status.